11/20/10 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Earlier this week, we came across the story of young Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff, a couple of 13-year old students who were caught selling cupcakes and baked goods at their local market. The two hoodlums were discovered peddling a range of treats, from cookies to brownies…even Rice Krispies.
As is often the case with aspiring criminals, this was not the first time the boys had flouted the law. Readers may be shocked to learn that this was actually the second time these would-be ruffians had conducted their illicit activities in public. On the first occasion, another bake sale, the boys managed to net a cool $120 in profit. And, like greedy capitalists the world over, the team invested half the loot to buy a cart from Target and even expanded their operations to include the sale of water and Gatorade.
Who knows how many treats the boys might have sold or how large their empire of dough-sponsored delinquency might have grown if left unchecked by the authorities. They had, according to one report, told a few members of their trusted inner circle (their Moms and Dads) of their intentions to one day open their own restaurant.
Clearly, something had to be done.
Enter our hero, local Councilman Michael Wolfensohn. Upon hearing of the boys vast and expanding operation down at the local market, Cr. Wolfensohn, his superhero cape sewn with the very threads of truth and justice, decided to act. Doing what any unquestioning citizen living in a police state would do after learning that two boys had decided to sell cupcakes, Wolfensohn called the cops.
On Saturday, October 19, after about an hour of business – during which the perpetrators had raised around $30 (in cash) – police arrived on the scene. The store – and the seed of a crime syndicate that may one day have rivaled all the government agencies of the world combined – was shut down.
Justice: 1; Kids trying to sell brownies: 0.
“All vendors selling on town property have to have a license, whether it’s boys selling baked goods or a hot dog vendor,” explained Wolfensohn.
When asked by the boys’ parents whether he might have just informed them that they needed a license rather than calling the police, Wolfensohn laid out his watertight case.
“In hindsight, maybe I should have done that, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to do that,” he said, demonstrating an admirable incapacity to think for himself. “The police are trained to deal with these sorts of issues,” he added.
We can only hope their brush with the law sets these two lads back on the right path, one that excludes entrepreneurial ambition and fosters a healthy fear of the state. As for Wolfensohn, this editor would like to formally recommend him for a senior position with the TSA, where no incident is too small to completely blow out of proportion and no threat, imagined or actual, is too big to miss altogether.
Enjoy your weekend.
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
for The Daily Reckoning
Joel Bowman
Joel Bowman is managing editor of The Daily Reckoning. After completing his degree in media communications and journalism in his home country of Australia, Joel moved to Baltimore to join the Agora Financial team. His keen interest in travel and macroeconomics first took him to New York where he regularly reported from Wall Street, and he now writes from and lives all over the world.
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Very well written, says it all.
Actually, it was good that the two boys were stopped and good for the councilman. 1) The local store pays rent for the building, utilities, local taxes,etc.. the boys were squatters 2) these two boys are dealing with food, not CDs or books- unless these are pre-wrapped products conusmers are injesting, their cookie and brownie selling poste a health risk- a cookie or brownie could be sold that dropped on the floor first or was touched with unsanitary hands after one of the boys coughed into it. 3) I’m sure the boys had no intention of declaring their income for tax purposes. If they were successful in their food selling enterprises and made $240 profit each weekend for a full year, that equals $12,480. A burger flipper making that amount would have to file a 1040 and pay into social security and other taxes.. why should the two boys because of their age? and 4) if these were two 17yr olds or two 35yr olds, would it still be ‘cute’??
Your premise was total garbage and thus the entire article is as well.
Is there a difference between capitalism and communism? All of them over time corrupt to some form of centralized control, preventing what is a reasonable trade between perfectly knowledgeable parties.
Tyler-
Easy tiger, its the weekend!
I do have to agree with you though. We are over-regulated for sure, but that doesn’t mean kids should be held to different rules.
The article doesn’t say, but why don’t they get a license? If they aren’t allowed because of age then we have a story…
Tyler and jred-
I suppose we and Joel agree the kids had to be stopped, for obvious reasons. Nonetheless, what Joel contends is that Mr. Wolfensohn himself should have first talked to them, and/or contact their parents. Instead, he went right to the cops.
The point Joel tries to convey here is the use of the invincible state to scare away a pair of children who probably didn’t know better. In other words, should we always go to the police to arrange ANY matter, even if there is no violence and no real threat. Sometimes people learn better when they are explained the consequences of their acts, and not treated right-away like criminals. The latter may actually, in some cases, be more harmful on the medium-long term.
Why should we even hope or dream or work?They’re just going to take our goods anyway.Why should we even try to compete?Their buddies are the ones that are going to get the taxbreaks anyway.Why throw my deepest dreams before the swine to trample?
I know what I will do.I will wait and be content with what I have and what I earn.But deep down inside I will hope for the demise of the system;indeed,I will pray for it.Let the oppressors of the poor meet their rightful judgement.
@Tyler- You and your vile kind are the reason the united States have become a tyrannical police state. May your chains rest lightly upon you- crouch down and lick the hand which feeds you and may posterity forget that you were our countryman.
Ernie seems to have it right. At some point the actions of the state change from sensible regulation to tyranny, while the slaves cheer.
On the bright side, Mr. Wolfensohn has clearly demonstrated to all and sundry that he deserves to be dis-elected at the earliest opportunity. One hopes that the relevant electorate will act accordingly.
Tyler, you are right that the boys were squatters and that should be considered. Everything else you say is just pathetic. So people who choose to buy cupcakes from 13 year old kids can’t take the risks into account for themselves? Do you want the government to zip you up after you take a piss? Wouldn’t want you to injure yourself, after all.
We definitely need the government to squeeze a few tax dollars out of these 13 year old entrepreneurs. After all, those bailouts and illegal wars don’t pay for themselves. Everyone has to chip in!
Tyler, Your post reminds me of a council sign in a park…”Warning. Natural Hazards Exist” attached was a diagram of a log and a small boulder.
And Tyler please don’t forget the heinous activities of my 7 and 9 year old daughters when they opened up a lemonade stand in the front yard and raked in all of about 10 bucks. Maybe you could have been a hero too and called in the health department. You don’t happen to work for the TSA do you? If not, you should consider it.
While we’re on the subject of government mandated tyranny here, does any one else see the lunacy in the TSA subjecting American air travelers to intrusive x-ray body scans, aggressively groping everything from one year babies to 90 year old grand mothers under the guise of air safety and yet incomprehensibly leaving our southern border completely wide open and unprotected? This stuff isn’t happening by accident folks.
Tyler likes to dress down Girl Scouts who show up at his doorstep selling cookies, or kids with snow shovels and leaf rakes over their shoulders looking to make a few honest bucks.
“…you little unregulated she-wolves! You are stealing jobs from people who are sitting on the couch watching television, and the taxes you aren’t paying won’t help put the American automotive industry back on a sound footing…”
It could be inferred from the original post that the kids were selling in front of the local market with the permission thereof. Yes, the market was paying rent, property taxes, business license, etc. If the MARKET ALLOWED THEM THERE, it isn’t trespassing. FFS, I saw a Salvation Army guy out in front of the market the other day. Should we call the cops to arrest the guy for aggravated begging?
Give the market some credit for being aware of the kids out front selling brownies. The councilman’s apparent ineptitude notwithstanding, the cops could have acted in a very professional manner. The article doesn’t address this at all, only stating that the stand was shut down. Maybe the cops explained to the kids the need for a vendor’s license from the city, and the kids agreed to close down until they can obtain one.
Whether you want kids to need to file paperwork and obtain a business license in order to to set up a bake sale is another discussion. Whether you want to consume food prepared by others outside of oversight by a gov’t agency is another discussion. (how many of you will be eating T-day dinner prepared in a private kitchen not your own by someone other than yourself? Gonna have dessert, maybe brownies? Dear God, think of the risk!)
The original post is about the poor judgement and inept public skills of the elected councilmen. If the local paper has as much fun with this as the internet is I’m sure the councilman will face a challenger for the next election.